Hitler and the Rise of Nazi Germany (550-555)


Introduction

- Adolf Hitler: German army veteran and leader of an extremist party
- Hitler rises to power
Title: Adolf Hitler
Title: Adolf Hitler

I. The Weimar Republic's Rise and Fall

- Germany came close to complete chaos
- Weimar Republic was a democratic government created by the constitution drafted by German leaders
chancellor: prime minister
- constitution set up a parliamentary system, gave women the vote and included a bill of rights

Political Struggles
- politically weak because Germany had small parties
- communists demanded radical changes
- conservatives said government was too liberal and weak and they wanted a strong leader
- many blamed German Jews for economic and political problems

Runaway Inflation
- 1923 Germany fell behind in reparations payments
Ruhr valley: coal-rich industrial region of Germany
-
workers in Ruhr refused to work
- government supported them, continued to pay them
- inflation became out of control
- German mark became worthless

Recovery and Collapse
- western powers helped to control inflation
- German reparation payments decreased
- Great Depression hit, Germans turned to energetic leader - Hitler

Weimar Culture
- culture flourished even while government struggled
- Berlin attracted writers and artists from around world
- George Grosz showed the failing of Weimar Republic through drawings and paintings

II. The Nazi Party's Rise to Power
http://morewhat.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/HitlerYouth.jpg
http://morewhat.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/HitlerYouth.jpg

- Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in 1889
- When he was 18 he moved to Vienna were he developed the fanatical anti-Semitism, or prejudice against Jewish people, that would later play a major role in his role in his rise to power
- He then went to Germany to fight in WWI
- In 1919 he joined a small group of right-wing extremists
- Within a year, he was the unquestioned leader of the National Socialist German Workers, or the Nazi party

Hitler's Manifesto
- 1923 Hitler was arrested and found guilty after trying to seize power in Munich
- in prison Hitler wrote a book called Mein Kampf ("My Struggle")
- wrote about his hate of the Jews and that Germans were the "master race"
- also blamed their loss of WWI on Jews, Marxists, corrupt politicians and business leaders
- Hitler began urging Germans everywhere to unite into one great nation and gain living space for its people
http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-32091-thumbflex-llbd.jpg
http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-32091-thumbflex-llbd.jpg


Hitler Comes to Power
- less than a year, Hitler was released from prison
- as economy fell, Hitler gained about a million Nazi members
- to become leader, he promised to end reparations, create jobs, and defy the Versailles treaty by rearming Germany
- 1933 Hitler was appointed chancellor through legal meanings under the Weimar constitution
- within a year Hitler was dictator of Germany
- He and his supporters suspended civil rights, destroyed the socialists and Communists and disbanded other political parties
- Germany became a one-party state
- Nazis learned that Hitler demanded unquestioning obedience


III. The Third Reich Controls Germany

Third Reich: official name of the Nazi party for its regime in Germany,help power from 1933-1945

Germany Becomes a Totalitarian State
- Nazis controlled all areas of German life, from government to religion to education
Gestapo: secret police
- Hitlers secret police the Gestapo rooted out opposition
- Relieved by belief in the Nazis promises, cheered Hitlers accomplishments in ending unemployment and reviving German power

The Campaign Against the Jews Begins
- In Hitlers fanatical anti Semitism he set out to drive Jews from Germany
Nuremberg Laws: laws approved by the Nazi Party in 1935, depriving Jews of German citizenship and taking some rights away from them
- In 1935 the Nazis passed the Nuremberg Laws, which deprived Jews of German citizenship and placed severe restrictions of them
- The Nazis were prohibited from marrying non Jews, attending or teaching at German schools or universities, holding governments jobs, practicing law or medican, or publishing books

Night of Broken Glass
- On November 7, 1938 a young Jew whose parents had been mistreated in Germany shot and wounded a German diplomat in Paris
- Hitler then used this incident as an excuse to stage an attack on all Jews
- An even called the Kristallnacht took place on November 9 adn 10,and when this took place mobs attacked Jewish communities all over Germany, Austria and the annexed portions of Czechoslovakia

Nazi Youth
- To build for the future, the Nazis indoctrinated young people with their idology
- Hitler urged young Germans to destroy their so called enemies without mercy
- At the "Hitler Youth" they pledged absolute loyalty to Germany adn undertook physical fitness programs to prepare for war

Purging German Culture
- The Nazis also denounced modern art, saying that it was corrupted by Jewish influences
- Hitler despised Christianity as "weak" and "flabby"
- They closed Catholic schools and muzzled the catholic clergy

Q. How did the Nazi party maintain it's control of Germany?
A. They organized an efficient but brutal system of totalitarian rule


IV. Authoritarian Rule in Eastern Europe

- Most new nations in Eastern Europe went from democratic to authoritarian rude in the postwar era
- In 1919, countries were carved out of the old Russian, Austro-hungarian, Ottoman and German empires
- They all faced some of the same problems
- They were small countries whose agricultural economies lacked capital to develop industry
- Social and economic inequalities separated poor people from the wealthy
- No experience with the democratic process
- Tensions from the world war I made economic problems between countries
- They all tried to be independent which ended up hurting them
- The whole region was hit hard by the great depression

Ethnic Conflict
- Czechs and slovak were unwilling partners
- Serbs dominated the new state of Yugoslavia, slovens and Croats living there pressed for independence
- Poland, Hungary, and Romania, conflict started between many ethnic groups

Democracy Retreats
- The ethnic tensions turned into instability which helped rulers gain power
- In Hungary, military strongman Nicholas Horthy overthrew a communist-led government in 1919
- 1926, Joseph Pilsdski had taken control over Poland
- Right-wing dictators emerged in every eastern European Country except Czechoslovakia and Finland
- Dictators won the backing of the military and wealthy like Hitler
- Turned to anti-Semitism using Jews as scapegoats for national problems

Additional Information


- The Hitler Youth was an organization established by Adolf Hitler to indocrinate German children into the ideology of the Nazi Party
- Hilter founded his Hitler Youth program in 1926. Although the public schools all taught the principles of Nazism, the HItler Youth took care of children's spare time
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Section 5 Quiz


A. Terms, People, and Places
1. German workers in the B. Ruhr Valley went on strike in 1923.
2. The D. Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, helped keep order in Germany.
3. Hitler believed his German government, or the C. Third Reich, would rule Europe for a thousand years.
4. The 1935 E. Nuremberg Laws revoked Jews' German citizenship.
5. the democratic Weimar Republic was led by a A. chancellor, or prime minister.

B. Main Ideas
6. The Weimar Republic faced many severe problems, including
C. runaway inflation and many political parties.
7. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote that Germany could return to power by
A. uniting all Germans into one nation.
8. How did Hitler come to power in 1933?
B. by legal election
9. One Nazi goal was to
D. purify German culture.
10. What was one reason authoritarian rule spread in Eastern Europe?
D. their lack of experience with the democratic process